Hi-Beams, virtuosos and yoga rock stars

by Chris Aaland

It’s been written that Colorado’s Front Range has more honky-tonk and alternative country bands than bluegrass and jam bands. Pinning such labels on groups that ply their craft in the various branches and offshoots of whatever you consider country music to be is unnecessary. After all, bluegrass is considered one of the sub-genres in country’s second generation in the 1930s and ’40s, along with Western swing, hillbilly boogie and honky-tonk. By the ’50s, rockabilly was added to the mix; by the ’60s, countrypolitan; by the ’70s, outlaw country and trucking tunes … and so on and so forth.

Colorado’s country scene has always had an acoustic side, whether it was John Denver penning folksy odes to Mother Nature, Firefall spreading the country rock cheese in the ’70s, or the revolving wheel of hot salmon and cheese leftovers rising up yonder ever since. Add a pinch of hippie to redneck music, and you’ve got a fat wad of influences to chew on.

Many of the same artists who’ve appeared in bluegrass bands also had side gigs in honky-tonk outfits, and vice versa. Open Road mandolin player Caleb Roberts was once a member of Slim Cessna’s Auto Club. Aaron Youngberg of Hit & Run and Finnders & Youngberg fame dabbled with traditional country in the Billy Pilgrims. Even Hot Rize dedicates a certain amount of their live show to their alter ego, the pedal steel guitar-driven Red Knuckles & the Trailblazers.

Yoga’s “rock star,” Krishna Das, brings his baritone to a kirtan Tues., Oct. 20, at Miller Middle School Auditorium.

One crew that has regularly appealed to both honky-tonkers and bluegrass aficionados is Halden Wofford & the Hi-Beams, a Denver quintet with a long history in the Four Corners. Durango Acoustic Music brings them back to town at 8 p.m. Friday (7:30 doors) when they’ll play the Durango Arts Center. Halden & company are no strangers to D-Town. In addition to past DAM shows, they’re regulars at the Dolores River Brewery (where they’ll be Saturday night) and have appeared at numerous downtown Durango events (DaddyFest comes to mind) and Pagosa festivals. Rootsy and real, neither revivalist nor retro, the Hi-Beams’ brand of country music is as boundless and electrifying as America itself. The pen of frontman Halden Wofford pours a potent mix of rocked-up honky-tonk, western swing, Dylanesque originals and spaghetti western epics. But Halden’s just one-fifth of the Hi-Beams. Bassist Ben O’Connor and drummer Damon Smith hold down the rhythm. In pedal steel guitarist Bret Billings and lead guitarist/mandolin player Greg Schochet, the Hi-Beams enlist two of Colorado’s musical treasures. Schochet, in particular, has deep ties to Durango, having appeared at live shows at the old San Juan Room with his 1990s bluegrass outfit, Runaway Truck Ramp. He’s also a past member of Honey Don’t and the Jeff & Vida Band, both of whom appeared on Reservoir Hill in Pagosa Springs. Catch them live on the radio during my Afternoon Blend on KSUT at around 2 p.m. Friday.

Wofford’s five-album catalog is one I treasure, thanks in no small part to heavy airplay on KDUR through the years. The “Live! at Hodi’s” record features covers of Hank Williams, Bob Wills, the Grateful Dead, Lead Belly and Dylan. “Sinners & Saints” points to musical if not cultural influences. Their self-titled, 2005 debut oozes with Western swing. Its follow-up, “Midnight Rodeo,” features the tongue-in-cheek anthem “Hippie in My House.” And their most recent effort, “Rocky Mountain Honky Tonk,” simply rocks. The show is one of the highlights to this fall’s Durango concert lineup, and an affordable one at that.

The Miller Middle School Auditorium hosts a benefit for Tara Mandala at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday (doors at 7) featuring Kirtan with Krishna Das. “Hailed as yoga’s ‘rock star,’ Krishna Das put sacred Sanskrit mantras on the music map,” raved Grammy.com. “His resonant baritone voice and energizing East-meets-West take on traditional Indian devotional chanting has become the soundtrack for the growing worldwide yoga movement throughout the past two decades.” Tara Mandala is a Tibetan Buddhist retreat center southwest of Pagosa Springs.

Music in the Mountains has extended the RSVP deadline to today (Thurs., Oct. 15) for its 30th anniversary celebration featuring world-renowned violinist Rachel Barton Pine. She’ll perform from 12:30-3:30 p.m. Sunday at the home of Rene Haas & David Perry at Electra Lake. The $75 ticket includes brunch-themed hors d’oeuvres and a bloody mary bar. Call 385-6820 or visit musicinthemountains.com to RSVP.

The Kirk James Blues Band plays the second installment of KSUT Tribal Radio’s free Ignacio Blues Series from 6-8 p.m. Tuesday at the 49 Lounge at the Sky Ute Casino Resort.

The Mancos Community Center celebrates histories and innovations through preservation, education and engagement with artists and communities on Saturday. Matt Neff, a skilled artist, printer, educator and director of the Common Press at the University of Pennsylvania, will give a lecture at 4 p.m., followed by a Mancos Common Press open house at 5 p.m. Appetizers and light refreshments will be served. The mission of the Mancos Common Press is to restore, revitalize and reuse the historic Mancos Times-Tribune building as an arts and education center.

Elsewhere: Pete Giuliani plays a solo, acoustic set at the grand opening of the Eureka Station in Silverton from 6-9 p.m.; Lawn Chair Kings return to beautiful Gem Village for a gig at the legendary Billy Goat Saloon at 8:30 p.m. Friday; the Black Velvet duo plays the Diamond Belle Saloon at 5:30 p.m. Saturday; and DJs Azon & Icite spin at Moe’s from 9 ‘til close Saturday.

This week’s Top Shelf list recalls eight of my favorite Colorado alt-country and honky-tonk bands:

1. Halden Wofford & the Hi-Beams – Champions of the classic sound.

2. Slim Cessna’s Auto Club – Purveyors of gothabilly.

3. Ethyl & the Regulars – Long-gone favorites of the Front Range Grange scene.

4. Honky Tonk Hangovers – This Denver band existed for a few years in the early 2000s and gave us a pair of Top Shelf albums.

5. 16 Horsepower – Denver’s dark godfathers of alternative country are certainly missed.

6. The Railbenders – Jim Dalton’s crew is influenced by Waylon, Hank and Cash.

7. Paul Galaxy & the Galactix – They brought rockabilly to the Denver dive bar scene in the late ’90s and early 2000s.

8. The Billy Pilgrims – A one-album band that let Aaron & Erin Youngberg explore their country side after Hit & Run broke up.

Peace and love, beans and brown rice? Email me at chrisa@gobrainstorm.net